Free Republic

Gingrich: Romney shows no concern for 'Humanity' of illegals"..

He should have delayed a month, or a month and a half. Was it the decision to schedule back surgery on July 1, putting Perry’s physical recovery on a collision course with a grueling schedule of fundraisers and campaign events? Was it the failure to prepare better for debates that soon turned disastrous? Was it simply a matter of getting in the race too late? Perry’s own string of verbal goofs, probably some of the worst in modern American political history, were so crippling that it is questionable whether any paid professionals could have pulled him out of the ditch....

From Public Policy Polling, this is really bad news for Rick Perry -- although at this point it cannot be unexpected: Rick Perry's Presidential campaign is doing about as bad in Texas now as it is everywhere else in the country. When PPP last polled the state in September he was at 49%, leading Mitt Romney by 39 points. Now Perry's support has declined by 31 points, leaving him in 3rd place at 18%. Mitt Romney at 24% and Newt Gingrich at 23% lead the way with Rick Santorum at 15%, Ron Paul at 12%, and Buddy Roemer at 0%...

For Turkey, busy riding an economic boom and preoccupied with soccer scandals and revolutionary shifts across its borders, the race for the U.S. Republican nomination hasn’t exactly been a box office draw. Until Tuesday, that is … Late Monday, Texas governor and presidential hopeful Rick Perry said that Turkey was governed by “what many perceive to be Islamic terrorists,” and should be booted out of NATO. The governor’s remarks, made during the Fox News Channel and Wall Street Journal GOP debate in South Carolina, came in response to a question from the moderator over whether Turkey still belonged in...

AUSTIN - Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Sunday that he is undaunted by his failure to win the backing of leading social conservatives and expressed confidence that he can still rally conservative voters in Saturday's South Carolina primary with his message of job creation and economic recovery. ....Perry was unapologetic about describing front-runner Mitt Romney's business activities as "vulture" capitalism, despite criticism from a number of leading Republicans, who warned that Democrats could exploit Perry's use of the term if Romney becomes the nominee. Perry said the issue of job creation and Romney's record at Bain Capital is certain to...

**CLICK Picture** [12:57]Republican presidential candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry (2nd L) arrives for the Huckabee Forum 2, a televised event, in Charleston, South Carolina, January 14, 2012. MRC: Best showing yet for Gov Rick Perry in the Huckabee Formun GOP debate.

When Allie Jennings and her husband, Ethan, graduated form college in 2003, they had no trouble finding jobs. “I just think raising a son, and then being married to someone who would like to climb the ladder in business, I think Gov. Perry represents a lot of opportunity for our family,” Allie Jennings said. Perry announced his candidacy during a rally in Charleston over the summer, and the Jennings were there to see him as Perry emphasized his record on job creation while governor of Texas. In January 2001, a month after Perry took office, there were 10,023,806 jobs in...

Perry hits it out of the park and will hit it out of the park if elected.

Looks like there’s a little war brewing between Rick Perry and former presidential candidate Herman Cain, who recently criticized the Texas governor’s depth and knowledge of political issues. “I hope Herman doesn’t think running a Godfather’s Pizza is the same as running the state of Texas,” Perry said on Laura Ingraham’s Radio Show after the host played a clip of Cain’s comments and the Texas governor touted his job creation record in the state. During an interview on the Fox Business Network Wednesday, Cain called Perry a “foregone superstar” who “wasn’t deep on any of the issues.” “He started out...

...Mr. Perry mocked Mr. Romney’s recent statement that there were times he had worried about losing his job, pointing out that Mr. Romney had grown up wealthy and privileged. “I mean, he actually said this,” Mr. Perry told more than 100 diners at a breakfast gathering here. “Now, I have no doubt Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips — whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out because his company, Bain Capital, of all the jobs that they killed,” Mr. Perry said. “I’m sure he was worried that he would run out of pink slips.”...

Is Rick Perry the Tea Party’s last hope in the 2012 election? As he prepares for his Alamo-moment in South Carolina, the longest serving governor in Texas history makes the case for limited government. Video It’s a deliberate play for South Carolina’s once powerful Tea Party to come to his aid. During the 9AM MSNBC debate today with David Gregory, Rick Perry promised the Tea Party across the country that he would have their back against big spending Republicans. But will they have his? Today, Amy Kremer of the Tea Party Express promised on Breitbart.tv that the organization will endorse...

... “We have a president who is a socialist,” Perry said in response to a question at the early-morning eye-opener GOP debate in Concord, N.H. “I reject the premise that Obama reflects our founding fathers,” Perry said. “He doesn’t.”..

They were short about 50K votes of the 500K required.

Joe Arpaio will chair Perry's Arizona campaign Rebeccah Kaplan January 6, 2012 AUSTIN, Texas - In a move to reassure conservatives who think he's soft on illegal immigration, Gov. Rick Perry announced Friday that controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will chair his campaign in Arizona. Although admired by conservatives for his get-tough approach to controlling illegal immigration in his Southern Arizona county, Arpaio is facing allegations by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division on a wide range of issues, including claims of practicing a pattern of racial profiling and discrimination and carrying out heavy-handed immigration patrols based on racially...

Three days after cancelling appearances in South Carolina and returning to Texas to “reassess” his presidential campaign, Texas Gov. Rick Perry released a statement Friday saying he will compete nationwide. "As my campaign for president moves forward, our superior organization and resources allow me to compete nationwide, where I’m confident our unmatched jobs record, conservative fiscal and social policies, and status as the only Washington outsider can win over Republican voters," Perry said in a news release announcing he had filed paperwork to be listed on primary election ballots in Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, Vermont and Washington, D.C.

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Even Rick Perry's top advisers thought it was over. After the Texas governor finished fifth in the Iowa caucuses on Tuesday night, Perry's staff and volunteers gathered around the bar in a Des Moines hotel to say goodbyes, drink beer and mourn what appeared to be the end of his quest for the Republican nomination for president. Perry had, after all, just said that he would return to Texas and "reassess" his campaign in a speech that had all the markings of a withdrawal from the race. Only it wasn't. Less than 12 hours later,...

National conservative leaders are wondering who, if anyone, can stop Mitt Romney from walking off with the Republican nomination after his narrow win in Iowa and his expected comfortable victory in New Hampshire next week. The name that keeps surfacing is Rick Perry, which says a lot about the desperation that the anti-Romney forces are feeling now. [snip] Perry insiders say that the plausible course forward for the candidate is to make this a one-on-one race with Mr. Romney so that the conservative vote doesn't split in two, three or four ways. South Carolina has a history of deciding the...

January 5, 2012Behind Perry's Decision to Keep Running South Carolina team urged Texas governor to make a last stand. Rebecca Kaplan AUSTIN, Texas – It is rare for a politician to announce that he is reassessing his candidacy -- and then continue his campaign. But that’s just what Rick Perry decided after discussions with his family, two top aides, and a South Carolina team that saw a path forward for Perry to win the Republican nomination for president. Even some of Perry’s senior advisers were shocked when Perry tweeted a mere 12 hours after his fifth-place Iowa finish that he...

If Rick Perry leaves the Republican race, there will not be a candidate in the field who authentically represents smaller government. While many conservatives don’t mind activist government so long as the ends are conservative, the willful use of activist government for conservative ends leaves in place a government perfectly capable of activist liberal government when conservatives lose. The only way to fully turn the tide of big government is therefore to support someone who is willing to scale back government. Unfortunately, the only candidate with both an agenda to significantly cut government and a record of actually doing so...

Just heard from a tweet, someone elses tweet of course.